SpeedOfDark
12-13-2013, 02:16 PM
Greetings fellow Legacy addicts! Let’s build a deck, shall we?
* TLDR: please make sure to read the “Deck Building Constraints” section *
Deck name
Mono Black Shades
Backstory
I am going to a Legacy tournament 2 months from now and I invited my brother to come along with me. My brother has minimal Legacy experience, loves to play MB, and is also limited by my remaining card pool and budget (he has no cards of his own). The tournament itself should be 50+ players with a relatively diverse metagame. Of the tier 1 decks, I expect UWx True-Name Nemesis to be the most strongly represented. The list presented below will be tested against major legacy archetypes eventually, but for now it is entirely based on past experience and theory crafting.
Deck Building Constraints
There are a few constraints in building his deck, partly from his personal preferences and partly from my card/budget constraints. The constraints are as follows:
(1) The deck must be Mono Black.
(2) The following cards are some of his pet cards and must be included (bolded in the decklist):
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Chilling Shade
4 Shriekmaw
1 Volrath’s Stronghold
(3) For now,Liliana of the Veil, Dark confidant and possibly some others are out of the question because I cannot afford them. I may be able to borrow some expensive cards that I’m missing before the tournament, but I am not counting on it for now.
(4) Cards that become stronger with increased Legacy knowledge are probably a bad idea. I’m talking about cards like Phyrexian Revoker, Pithing Needle, Cabal Therapy, etc. Since he has minimal knowledge of legacy decks, it is already enough work as it is to teach him how to sequence and sideboard properly.
Deck List (60)
(http://deckbox.org/sets/124526)
--Creatures--(16)
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Chilling Shade
4 Shriekmaw
--Spells--(19)
1 inquisition of kozilek
4 Thoughtseize
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Victim of Night
1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Whip of Erebos
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms
--Land--(25)
23 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Volrath's Stronghold
--Sideboard--(15)
4 duress
3 headhunter
3 Engineered Plague
1 perish
4 Leyline of the Void
Card Explanations
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir: High power level card and one of the rewards of playing MB; becomes even stronger in a world of true-name nemesis and Show and Tell.
1 inquisition of kozilek, 4 Thoughtseize, 4 Hymn to Tourach: The best black disruption. Against fair decks we want to slow the game down so that our shades can shine in the late game and against combo we need to disrupt them before they can be aggro’d to death.
2 Victim of Night: Best removal for MB.
1 Umezawa's Jitte: Best equipment ever. If they have enough removal to keep our relevant creatures off the board, this is a backup plan.
4 Ensnaring Bridge: Strong lock piece that works extremely well with Shades. For example, if you have a chilling shade in play, every turn you can keep 1 card in hand for your attack step, attack with a giant flier, then use your card before the end of your turn and your opponent can not retaliate with creatures until he deals with the bridge. Incidental MU points against S&T and reanimator.
1 Phyrexian Reclamation: This is another version of Volrath’s Stronghold. This is the kind of card you cast any turn you have unused mana and then ignore it until you run out of gas. When you do, you’ll be glad you have it. Similarly to Volrath, it can recur shriekmaw repeatedly to grind fair decks.
1 Whip of Erebos: This is mostly for the lifelink bonus against fair decks that are faster. The whip's ability also happens to work well with shriekmaw.
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms: It is fairly obvious that this card’s power level is underwhelming, especially when compared to her tournament all-star sister. However, I think it is worth trying here because of the synergy she has with this particular list, namely:
1. You plan to slow down the game and are playing almost 100% swamps so her -3 ability is stronger.
2. You will almost always have use for extra mana and will never run out of swamps, so her +1 ability is stronger.
3. In the unlikely event that the board stalls and you pull off her -6 ability, your Shades will join the ranks of Emrakul and Marit Lage sized monsters.
Perhaps that is not enough, but it seems worth trying. I’m thinking worst case scenario, it will fetch a land or two and act as an overpriced piece of removal. It is card advantage and not the worst deal in the world.
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: why not?
1 Volrath's Stronghold: recur shriekmaw and wincons. Sweet card; would play multiples if it wasn’t legendary.
Snow-Covered Swamp: Wasteland and Stifle? Never heard of ‘em. lol
Conclusion
All feedback which respects the constraints outlined above is welcomed! This deck will certainly change as I get new ideas/testing, so I will try to keep the OP list updated as I make changes.
Thanks!
* TLDR: please make sure to read the “Deck Building Constraints” section *
Deck name
Mono Black Shades
Backstory
I am going to a Legacy tournament 2 months from now and I invited my brother to come along with me. My brother has minimal Legacy experience, loves to play MB, and is also limited by my remaining card pool and budget (he has no cards of his own). The tournament itself should be 50+ players with a relatively diverse metagame. Of the tier 1 decks, I expect UWx True-Name Nemesis to be the most strongly represented. The list presented below will be tested against major legacy archetypes eventually, but for now it is entirely based on past experience and theory crafting.
Deck Building Constraints
There are a few constraints in building his deck, partly from his personal preferences and partly from my card/budget constraints. The constraints are as follows:
(1) The deck must be Mono Black.
(2) The following cards are some of his pet cards and must be included (bolded in the decklist):
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Chilling Shade
4 Shriekmaw
1 Volrath’s Stronghold
(3) For now,Liliana of the Veil, Dark confidant and possibly some others are out of the question because I cannot afford them. I may be able to borrow some expensive cards that I’m missing before the tournament, but I am not counting on it for now.
(4) Cards that become stronger with increased Legacy knowledge are probably a bad idea. I’m talking about cards like Phyrexian Revoker, Pithing Needle, Cabal Therapy, etc. Since he has minimal knowledge of legacy decks, it is already enough work as it is to teach him how to sequence and sideboard properly.
Deck List (60)
(http://deckbox.org/sets/124526)
--Creatures--(16)
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Nantuko Shade
4 Chilling Shade
4 Shriekmaw
--Spells--(19)
1 inquisition of kozilek
4 Thoughtseize
4 Hymn to Tourach
2 Victim of Night
1 Umezawa's Jitte
4 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Whip of Erebos
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms
--Land--(25)
23 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Volrath's Stronghold
--Sideboard--(15)
4 duress
3 headhunter
3 Engineered Plague
1 perish
4 Leyline of the Void
Card Explanations
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir: High power level card and one of the rewards of playing MB; becomes even stronger in a world of true-name nemesis and Show and Tell.
1 inquisition of kozilek, 4 Thoughtseize, 4 Hymn to Tourach: The best black disruption. Against fair decks we want to slow the game down so that our shades can shine in the late game and against combo we need to disrupt them before they can be aggro’d to death.
2 Victim of Night: Best removal for MB.
1 Umezawa's Jitte: Best equipment ever. If they have enough removal to keep our relevant creatures off the board, this is a backup plan.
4 Ensnaring Bridge: Strong lock piece that works extremely well with Shades. For example, if you have a chilling shade in play, every turn you can keep 1 card in hand for your attack step, attack with a giant flier, then use your card before the end of your turn and your opponent can not retaliate with creatures until he deals with the bridge. Incidental MU points against S&T and reanimator.
1 Phyrexian Reclamation: This is another version of Volrath’s Stronghold. This is the kind of card you cast any turn you have unused mana and then ignore it until you run out of gas. When you do, you’ll be glad you have it. Similarly to Volrath, it can recur shriekmaw repeatedly to grind fair decks.
1 Whip of Erebos: This is mostly for the lifelink bonus against fair decks that are faster. The whip's ability also happens to work well with shriekmaw.
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms: It is fairly obvious that this card’s power level is underwhelming, especially when compared to her tournament all-star sister. However, I think it is worth trying here because of the synergy she has with this particular list, namely:
1. You plan to slow down the game and are playing almost 100% swamps so her -3 ability is stronger.
2. You will almost always have use for extra mana and will never run out of swamps, so her +1 ability is stronger.
3. In the unlikely event that the board stalls and you pull off her -6 ability, your Shades will join the ranks of Emrakul and Marit Lage sized monsters.
Perhaps that is not enough, but it seems worth trying. I’m thinking worst case scenario, it will fetch a land or two and act as an overpriced piece of removal. It is card advantage and not the worst deal in the world.
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: why not?
1 Volrath's Stronghold: recur shriekmaw and wincons. Sweet card; would play multiples if it wasn’t legendary.
Snow-Covered Swamp: Wasteland and Stifle? Never heard of ‘em. lol
Conclusion
All feedback which respects the constraints outlined above is welcomed! This deck will certainly change as I get new ideas/testing, so I will try to keep the OP list updated as I make changes.
Thanks!